$20,000 Challenge: Riding the Wave

 As some of you may have read earlier this week I began playing poker full-time and set out to make $20,000 by the end of February.  Unfortunately, the first few days of this challenge I have not gotten to play as much as I would like.  Right away I began on a downswing, not cashing in 10 straight tournaments and eventually finding myself down over $400.00; variance was killing me!  Fortunately, I was able to keep my cool and trim my losses to only $81.00 thanks to a couple nice wins today.  I'm hoping to keep the momentum going and move into the green shortly!

Picks of the Week

Lock of the Week:
New England Patriots (-2) over Baltimore Ravens

    Last week New England faced a similar opponent in the Atlanta Falcons.  Both teams have strong second year quarterbacks and are trendy picks to reach the Superbowl.  For the second straight week New England will show the "young guns" who's boss.  Everyone has hopped on the Baltimore bandwagon this season (ESPN even has them at #1 in their power rankings), but what have they actually done?  Week one they were in a dogfight vs. KC until the final few minutes of the game.  Week 2, they barely get by San Diego, thanks to a great play by Ray Ray to stop the little lightning bolt himself, Darren Sproles.  And Week 3 they dismantled the Bad News Bears, I mean Cleveland Browns.  Their offense IS much improved, but the defense is vulnerable; losing Rex Ryan has hurt. On the other side stands New England.  After week 2 New England was written off.  "Their too old on defense, Brady doesn't have it this year, they can't run the ball."  Week 3 they silenced their critics.  The Falcons did nothing on offense, while the Pats established a strong running game behind Fred Taylor.  Brady still missed some passes, but give the guy a break, he missed over a full season.  With a rediscovered ground game and the return of Wes Welker, look for Brady and the Patriots offense to get back on track.

Final Score: Patriots 27 - Ravens 17

Double Coverage:
New York Jets (+7) over New Orleans Saints
     Seven points is just way too much to be giving a team with a defense of their caliber.  The Jets are capable of winning this game straight up.
Final Score: Saints 27 - Jets 24

Detroit Lions (+10) over Chicago Bears
    The Lions are much improved from last year, and Stafford has played better each week.  Look for them to continue improving and cover against the Bears.

Final Score: Bears 24 - Lions 16

Upset Special:
Miami Dolphins over Buffalo Bills
     The 'Fins will finally get rid of that goose egg in the win column.  Chad Henne takes over for Pennington, bringing back the vertical threat to the Miami offense.  The threat of the deep ball should keep Buffalo's Safety's honest, and create running room for Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.

Final Score - Dolphins 20 - Bills 17